


A Bottled Future

by iluvaqt



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Children, F/M, Family, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-22
Updated: 2015-06-22
Packaged: 2018-04-05 14:39:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4183653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iluvaqt/pseuds/iluvaqt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rip knows that for Oliver to accept his destiny, he needs to see it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Bottled Future

**For** [arrows-and-fairytales](http://tmblr.co/mWiGfLGvKgBqwcCYHSl00Nw) ****

**In answer to this prompt -**

[babblingblondegenius](http://tmblr.co/mfe6GsaFWBNn5n0vPY7ROdg) **said:**

**I think you may have stopped watching Smallville about the same time I started. I’m a bigger fan of Lois than Clark. :) You may not have seen S10,E4. Clark is experiencing some self-doubt (shocking, right lol) about if he is making a difference and whether he really matters in the big scheme of things (as a hero, with Lois, etc.) It parallels where Oliver is at the moment. In SV, Brainiac uses a ring to place Clark in his future. What if Barry or Wells could give Oliver a glimpse to reassure him?**

::: ::: :::

Rip knew that Oliver would be the one that would take the most convincing. It was in the man’s personal memoirs that his father, Booster Gold had passed down to him. There was a pivotal moment in time, where Oliver had seen a glimpse of his future. It had been bright and real enough that it had been something he’d clung to through the confusion and darkness ahead. 

The others wanted to believe they could be heroes, they were almost innocent, they didn’t have the years of trauma and death that dogged Oliver’s past. Oliver had tried to take the hero’s path and believed he had failed. Ra’s al Ghul had taken the Arrow from him. He had been prepared to die to save Starling City to end Ra’s al Ghul’s plans of genocide.

Not everyone believed in a grand design. That the journey fraught with trials were leading them to a destination beyond imagination. However, he needed Oliver to see - to believe - in order for him to be on board. To be the Legend he’d grown up hearing and reading about. To be the hero that saved the world, not only a lone city.

So he sent his message through The Flash. Barry and Oliver had a close relationship. They were friends long before there was ever an international, interdimensional, intergalactic crime fighting force known as the Justice League. And this Flash was young, idealistic and impressionable. He was eager to please and believed in time travel. Barry had lived it. He understood the theory in principle if not the finer physics.

“We’ll get to the mission to save the world in a moment, when the others arrive, but first there’s something I need you to see.” He waved Oliver over to his time machine. “I know you’re not a man of science, and you’re a skeptic. You only believe in what you’ve seen and experienced for yourself. So let me show you, your future.”

Oliver didn’t get a chance to protest. Rip shut them in that strange glass sphere and told him to hang on.

The world disappeared in a vacuum and they were surrounded by swirls of darkness, streaked with white. Other colors darted past them so fast all he could register was that he had seen something in the cloud of luminous nothingness around them. In a bright blinding flash, the colors stopped streaming. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust. It looked like the back garden of the Queen family property. But he and Thea hadn’t lived there for years. Not since being evicted by Isabel after she became sole CEO and Stellmoor took control of Queen Consolidated.

Two boys smartly attired played near the large pond and another child stood in the water, her expensive satin, forest green dress tucked into her underwear as she bent over, her arms elbow deep among the lily pads as she searched for something.

Suddenly the ball the two others were playing with hit her square in the back and she went face first into the pond. She surfaced spluttering, her face set in a fierce scowl, her long blonde curls which had been shaped into perfect spirals hung waterlogged and limp against the sides of her face. “Connor!” she screeched.

The older of the two boys waded straight into the pond heedless of the fact that he was still in shoes and didn’t even stop to roll up his pants. “I got you. Sorry Annalise, we didn’t mean it.”

“Mama’s gonna be so mad,” the girl blurted, her bottom lip jutted out and her eyes started to well up. 

The other boy hovered near the water’s edge and looked contrite as the water sodden pair reached him. “Sorry Annalise, my aim sucks.”

The girl started to cry in earnest then. Her dress was stained with algae, sludge and who knew what else and the fabric clung to her legs making her stumble and fall to her knees in the shallows.

“Don’t make me get out the mega phone, car’s leaving in thirty seconds. We’ve got to get going,” a familiar voice called out.

He watched, his heart in his throat as he watched a clearly older (from the woman he’d left curled up in their bed this morning), elegant and still breathtakingly beautiful, Felicity make her way through the gardens. From their position high above the grounds, Oliver could see everything and held his breath wondering what her reaction would be to discover the state of the children.

All of them froze for a moment upon hearing Felicity’s voice. Annalise paled under the dirt and tears and looked to her brother, who’s name Oliver hadn’t heard yet. He had a short scissor cut style that reminded him of his own hair at that age and Felicity’s eyes. Oliver assumed they were all siblings although the eldest had darker hair. A light brown, like his father’s had been before he went grey.

The oldest, Connor straightened and put his arm firmly around his sister. “I’ll tell her.”

“Annalise, Connor, Tommy, where are you? We’ve got to go. This is super important to your Dad. We need to be gone… What on earth!”

Her jaw dropped and her mouth set in a silent O. All three children before her shuffled nervously before Connor made good on his promise.

“We accidentally knocked Annalise over playing ball.”

Felicity planted her hands on her hips and Oliver knew from her expression all too well that stubborn, angry, loud Felicity was about to make an appearance. “Annalise, you shouldn’t have been anywhere near the pond, your hair took hours and you boys…”

Connor ducked his head and gave her the meekest, most sullen look, like a starving lost puppy with hazel eyes.

Felicity threw up her hands and rolled her eyes skyward. Her anger just melting away. Her lips twisted as she tried to repress a smile when she trained her gaze back on them. “Inside. We’ve got five minutes to make magic happen. Connor, grab your grey suit and oh, frak, change your shoes too,” she said cringing at the squelching noise they made as he trudged past her dutifully in the direction of the manor. 

She took Annalise by the arm and shook her head ruefully. “Don’t think I didn’t see you in the pond, young lady. You can’t always let your brother fight your battles for you.”

“But they did hit me…”

“And you would have been fine, if you weren’t already in the water,” Felicity interjected firmly. “Connor’s very protective. He gets that… among other traits,” she muttered more softly, “from your father. But I’ll not have any of you taking advantage of that. You’re my only girl. We girls are strong, brave and independent. Just look at your Aunt Thea, your Uncle Roy knows what a girl really wants.”

Annalise shared a wide secret smile with her mother and Oliver found himself itching to know what it was Roy knew and how Thea and he had found a way to make things work since Roy was supposed to be dead.

“Sorry, Mama. I lost my bracelet, the one Daddy got for me, when I was throwing the ball. I just had to go find it. If he sees it gone… I don’t want to make him sad at me.”

Felicity sighed. They had reached the back porch and they both stopped to look back at the pond. “Well if it’s in there, it’s not going anywhere and well have to drag out the metal detector to find it. It’s not lost, just missing. We’ll find it.” She patted her daughter on the back and sent her inside.

She folded her arms over her chest and hugged herself. “Just like we found our way to each other.” Oliver saw her say to herself.

Rip turned to him and reset the clock. He’d been subtly trying to hide it but Oliver saw everything. This date was only eleven years from now. He and Felicity were married, living in his family home with three kids. They seemed happy. A happy family. This was his future.

“This is only one moment of many in the successful, idyllic, well documented life of Oliver Queen.”

Oliver nodded, trying to fight back the grin that had threatened the moment Felicity had stepped out into the sunlight to find their children. Even though a small part of him wondered about the dark haired, older boy, just seeing how much they all cared and looked out for each other had him telling that sliver of nervous doubt to shut the hell up.

“Don’t we have a meeting to get to?” he asked gruffly.

Rip Hunter shot him a knowing smile over his shoulder. “We will arrive at the exact moment that we left. This knowledge is for you, and you alone.”

As the picturesque setting disappeared into the black, Oliver held onto the plush but firm chair of the time travelling sphere. He closed his eyes and dared to dream. Felicity believed in him. She really hadn’t ever stopped. She was his future and he was finally ready to let himself embrace it. 


End file.
